Thursday, April 8, 2010

Furniture Design - What a way of thinking!

In today's society furniture designers are focusing more towards the concept of sustainable design, which centres not only around a responsible use of materials and methods of manufacture but also on issues of object life span, energy usage, and recycling and disposal of the furniture piece for the long term.

Furniture makers are searching for new ways to modify the public's aesthetic expectations especially when it comes to forms that are multifunctional, recyclable and even made of alternative materials. With this said materials such as recycled cardboard, plastic, timber and unusual materials such as old bicycles and even shopping trolleys are being used to create new pieces of furniture.

I am not completely sold on some of these creations, although they do get me thinking about alternative ideas for furniture pieces. Some examples of recycled furniture are shown in the images below.

The 'RD4 Chair' designed by Richard Liddle is made out of 100% recycled plastic and is made in such a way that each chair differs from the last. The chair comes in five different colours allowing more choice for the consumer. I personally think this chair is amazing and would be one of the few recycled chairs on the market I would purchase.

The 'Cub Children's Chair' designed by Daniel Michalik is made from recycled pure granulated cork, with a non-toxic binding agent. Although this chair is an interesting idea and made out of a material which would otherwise be thrown away, I personally don't like it. It is however the first chair I have ever seen made out of cork.

The 'Vector Lounge Chair' designed by Andy Gregg is constructed out of aluminium bicycle rims, bicycle handle bars and can also be purchased with custom padded vinyl cushions in a range of colours for comfort. Bike Furniture Design who sells all of Andy Gregg's collection has a range of furniture including chairs, tables, barstools and accessories all made from bicycles. It has to be seen to be believed!